Ivan Cankar:
On the Slope (Na klancu)
Stage adaptation of a novel by Ivan Cankar
Directed by: Jernej Lorenci
In Slovenian, without translation.
The novel assigned as compulsory reading for the 2026 Matura, Slovenia’s final high-school examination
“I will never catch up with them!” she (Francka) thought,
and it seemed to her that she could never catch them
even if she had run after them to the end
of the world and for the rest of her life.
She was lying on her knees,
face down as if she had been praying.
Her bread was almost buried in the sand.
She held the prayer book in her stretched-out hand.
But Francka got up.
And fell again.
And Francka got up again.
She was pushed, shoved, and laughed at.
And she fell.
And Francka got up again.
She was pushed by the man she loved.
And Francka got up.
She was pushed by her mother, laughed at by her sister.
And Francka got up again.
The father of her children ran away, forever.
And Francka got up again.
She sewed, worked the fields.
Went begging from house to house.
She sewed with sore eyes.
She dug with rough hands.
She kneaded bread from dust.
On the slope of the poor.
But there was hope.
There was light, and love.
And Francka would run after the wagon.
She ran and ran again.
And fell, her knees bloodied.
Covered in dust.
And she got up again and again.
And she ran.
And ran.
And the years. Three children.
And ran.
Fell time and again, her knees bloodied.
And she got up again, and again.
And ran again.
And there was no more hope.
And hope became a dream.
About light and love.
About buttered bread. And trees.
And the dream became a memory.
And she ran, fell, and got up again.
The children left.
A child died.
From dust to running, again.
And again and again.
Each child tore off a piece of her heart.
And we watch Francka on the slope of the poor,
running, falling, getting up.
And we thickly spread butter on our bread.
Jernej Lorenci
Ivan Cankar: On the Slope (Na klancu)
20,00 EUR
16,00 EUR * * EUR for younger than 25 and older than 65, as well as pensioners.
Photo Peter Uhan
Photo Peter Uhan
Photo Peter Uhan
Photo Peter Uhan
Photo Peter Uhan
Jernej Lorenci, photo Kristina Bursać
Directed by: Jernej Lorenci
Cast: Tamara Avguštin and Gregor Zorc
Set design: Branko Hojnik
Costume design: Belinda Radulović
Production: Cankarjev dom
Founder and main co-funder of Cankarjev dom’s Arts and Culture programme
